May Crown

First project of the summer...replacing the rotting deck.  Kelly ripped off one set of stairs and demolished them.  The second set of stairs is currently still in place, so the yard is still accessible from the deck, although the entire deck will need to be replaced also.





Last weekend, I went to the Toppenish Rodeo grounds with about 800 of my closest friends.  Cammie and I were both perplexed about the location of the spa.  We never did find it.


I had made a few tweaks to the yurt so now it is about the right size and shape.  I still need to do a couple little things to the canvas walls and make a couple of longer rafter (uni) rods for the doorway.  I also need to get an additional rug for inside and cut the floor tarp to size.  I'd also like to paint the door...I'll have to find a design I like.

Cammie and I went together (just us two), and camped with Bekah, Lauri, James and a new friend, Craig (aka Aenor, Juliana, James and Grimm).  We shared a common kitchen and dining area and shared meals, cooking and cleaning.  We had a great time together and will definitely have to do that again!  I think we even came up with a household name...something that means Hodge Podge...maybe in Turkish.  Maybe I should ask my Croatian neighbor how to say and write it in her language...she doesn't like the Turks...



Cammie stole my phone and got a picture of me doing some fingerloop braiding.  I only wish my hair didn't look so...weird.



The fingerloop braiding was to make a favor for a gentleman who asked me to be his inspiration for May Crown's tournament.  The winner of this tourney gets to be Crowned Prince for 3 months, then elevated to King for 6 months (or thereabouts), and his consort becomes Princess and Queen.  If you enter the tournament, you have to commit to serving if you win.  If you don't want to serve, you shouldn't enter this tournament--there are lots of other tournaments that don't have this kind of obligation.  In fact, you have to kneel and swear an oath to serve should the fighter prove victorious.



This is Martin le Harpur, whom I've known for 20 years from my days in Shittimwoode.  Cammie got to carry the flag as we processed in.  I wish I had a flag to bring into the tourney field...or a nicer dress.  I was going to wear the red one, but I ended up getting pancake batter all over it.  Grrrr....



I took a panoramic photo of the "unbelted" entrants and their inspirations--we were on the "belted" (aka the knights') side.



There were around 100 entrants to this competition, so the chances of my becoming queen were pretty slim, and as it turned out, he was finished by the third round.  It was a fun experience, though, and an honor to be asked by a knight and an old friend.

Bekah/Aenor was inspiration to James.  She looks stunning in this blue gown, trimmed in hand embroidered flowers...she did it herself.  Her first project!  Awesome!


But first, plenty of sunscreen.


We got back home, dirty, smelly and tired, but we had a great time.  I discovered that Cammie needs new garb.  Desperately.  We're going to make a few new tunics for her this Thursday.  She wants an Elizabethan dress like one of these:

  

Although maybe not quite so fancy...

 
Maybe something more like this.  I might make it a few inches shorter so it's not a trip hazard for the kiddo.

She wants to shoot archery, Youth Armored Combat, learn blacksmithing, weave, and cook and she's well on her way.  We have to get her practicing with the bow & arrows, and get her armor kit together.  She volunteers to help Master Grendal the Blacksmith at most events we see him at (or tries to--I'm going to make her a leather apron, I think), and she made an apple dessert on site, from scratch, using the ingredients we had on hand.  Dude!  She also picked up a small lap loom at the event.  I'll have to teach her how to warp it up and give her some yarns to play with.

Looks like I've got quite a bit of work ahead of me...

Over the Mountains and Back

I've returned from the Crown tournament last weekend, held just south of Yakima, WA.  I headed out on Friday after meeting up with Kelly and the two littles at school during the field day for grades 1-3.  Four (or five?) schools get together and compete in running, relay races, soccer kick, sack races, and more.  It's a lot of fun!  The older kids (grades 4 to 8) help wrangle the younger ones, sell refreshments (hot dogs, soft drinks and sugar), and generally have a half-day of school running around outside with their friends.  The weather cooperated, which was a big relief, and Ben got through his events without incident.

Kelly was able to get away from work early enough to catch most of the events, but by the time I got there, they were all over.  I arrived late because I couldn't find my keys, which turned out to be one of those "there's a hole in the bucket" stories.  I had been packing the car that morning and had set my keys down on a chair in the garage.  I also set down some things I was going to load into the car...without realizing it, I put them on top of the keys.  So when I needed to unlock the car to begin loading, I couldn't find them.  Gahh!  It took more than an hour of tearing the house apart to realize that they might be in the garage, move the pile of stuff (soft things--nothing heavy to crush the keys), and uncover them.  I just about screamed.

After a quick visit at the school, hugs and kisses to the two littles and Kelly (Emma was still at her school), I got in the car and headed down the road.  Over several rivers, through the woods and over the passes--stopping at a view of the valley over Ellensburg to pick up a Geocache--I arrived at my destination!  I pulled up to my camp site with the Baron and Baroness of Aquaterra and several other friends, and began to assemble the 12' yurt.  I had help for the first ten minutes or so, but their services were needed elsewhere, so I set to work assembling it myself.  I was quite sure it could be done solo, and in about two hours, the chore was complete.

That night, however, I discovered muscle pains I never knew I could have...my arms were killing me! All that lifting and adjusting and shifting....ooof!  I hurt from my shoulders to my palms.  Sleep was difficult that night, mostly due to the arm discomfort.  I was too tired to think, "Maybe I should get some Tylenol..." but I did take some the next morning.  I also have determined that I need to invest in a foam pad for the cot--it's just too firm.  Neighbors Lord Nigel and Lady Emma recommended the kind they sell at REI.  She says that it's more comfortable than their bed at home and she sleeps like a baby.

On Saturday, I wandered over to the Arts & Sciences pavilion where I signed up for the sock knitting contest.  They didn't provide anything for the contest except for the directions, so you had to bring your own Cascade 220 and needles.  They recommended size 5-7, which seemed enormous.  I brought size 4, and wondered if Cascade 220 would be too bulky to wear.  But I thought it would be fun to participate anyway, and maybe I could wear them for my sleeping socks at events.  The nights get really cold in An Tir where the temperature can be in the 80s during the day and drop to 40 at night.  The sign up for the sock contest started at 9:00 but the knitting didn't start until noon, so I spend some time winding the yarn into a ball and visiting with some artisans at the 11:00 Artisan Geek-Out.  There was a woman turning sheepskins into vellum.  There was another making chain mail armor (which is a modern misnomer--back in the day, it was called "chain armor" or "mail armor", not "chain-mail"; it's like saying "chicken bird" or "beef hamburger"...or "tuna fish".)  Another gal was weaving velvet (sooooooo soft!), and yet another had large painted game boards.

After about 30 minutes hanging out there, I wandered off and found the Comune dei Pavone camp, where a lot of the artsy people are camped, and talked with HL Isabel (well, she squeaked and whispered--lost her voice from a laryngitis), who said that she had wrangled a couple of judges to help me finish my Journeyman rank for Costumer's Guild.  We compared schedules and decided that between 3:00 and 3:30 we could start.

In front of their camp, Ariel had set up the very small yurt she built for her little brother many years ago.  They called it the Squirt.  It's made with one of those round baby gates from a million years ago!  Now that her sons are reaching teenagerhood, they're too big to camp in it anymore, so it's for sale.  I thought briefly about getting it for Ben...

At noon, I watched some of the procession--the parade of fighters and their households who introduce themselves to their Majesties and request permission to be part of the tournament--as I cast on the first few stitches of my sock.  This part of the event would go on for a couple hours.  There were nearly 100 men and women signed into the lists to fight for crown.  That's the biggest I can recall ever seeing.  Usually it's around 60.  All too soon, and long before the line had significantly dwindled down, I had to go to the Ithra staff meeting.

The meeting for Ithra ran two hours and was largely productive.  I have a short list of things I need to do today--posting the old handbook online, for example--and I got a chance to meet a few people who are the upcoming movers-and-shakers in Ithra.  There was the Regent (I think we're only going to have one) and myself who were the only fully-licensed Chancellors, and Sarra, who was unable to make it to the event.  We all agreed that we need to train up a bunch of Chancellors, and right quick.  Baroness Stephania took notes, so hopefully those will be available on the Yahoo list soon.

Once the meeting ended, I headed back to camp to get the Journeyman stuff, and made my way back across the field to Comune dei Pavone present it to the Costumer's Guild judges, Mistress Isolde, Mistress Godytha and HL Isabel.  As I may have mentioned before, I didn't remember what things I had presented in the past for Junior and Senior ranks, and the records of what I had presented did not survive the database (although I received the gems for achieving it, the data was missing) so I started from scratch.  I had organized all the documentation in the binder, laid out the pieces as we went through them, and I presented my works.  They asked questions and challenged me on my choices ("Is this linen or cotton?  Why did you chose this fabric?"), and brought up some very interesting perspectives on a couple items.  They seemed to really enjoy the Bog Coat article I wrote...Isolde described it as a garment that is "peri-oid"; it has the correct silhouette, but not the right construction.  Mistress Ariel popped in and out during the presentation, and afterwards offered her congratulations.

I was able to catch the final couple of rounds of the Crown tournament where Count Ieuan ("Ian") was in the finals with Squire Leith.  Sir Octomasades was the third contender, but he lost to Leith, and Ieuan won best 2 of 3 against Leith.  Count Ieuan was king once before in January of last year, when he and his wife had a tiny baby.  Now their daughter is a toddler, and Her Royal Highness is expecting another baby.  Ieuan is pictured above wearing yellow, riding on the shoulders of the knights.  His wife is to his left, also in yellow.  Leith is riding on the shoulders ahead of him, wearing blue and black.  Carrying the final two fighters around on the shoulders after the tournament is a tradition in An Tir...I don't know about elsewhere in the SCA.  Generally speaking, when an "unbelted" fighter gets to the final rounds, knighthood is imminent...this happened once before that I recall when Duke Darius got Silver Rose at a May Crown tourney back in 1990 and was offered knighthood that day.  Leith, however, was not offered it that day...or the next--I have heard rumors why this might have been the case, and I hope that given his skill and time since accusations were laid, the knights' council will revisit the issue.  I've known Leith for a long time; he's a great musician and artist (he's a Laurel), but I don't know much about the fighting aspect.  It's not my battle however, so I will withhold further opinion.

Later that night, I went to visit with the Comune dei Pavone but they were just sitting down to dinner and waiting for the Royals to come join them.  It seemed I was not welcome to stay--the only person who shared pleasantries with me was a lady I'd never seen before, so I excused myself and wandered off.  Most of the group were busy in the kitchen, but I was not invited to stay and be social--I had already eaten--and clearly they were not ready for drop-in company.

The evening was spent with Tessa and her campmates while I knitted on the sock.  Later, I wandered around with Lianor and we ran into Duncan--a horse guy--and we had a great time chatting with him and his adult daughter.  Duncan offered to let me ride his horses, and we made some preliminary plans to make that happen.  Eventually I shuffled off to bed at around 2 a.m., when I checked my phone--and yes, Facebook--and discovered that HL Raffaella had been offered the Pelicanate.  Pelican?  Not Laurel?  Foodie, artisan, costumer's guild officer, organizer of the A&S Geek-Outs...  What the--?

I woke up in the morning with the camp behind me cooking bacon.  My entire tent smelled like bacon, and I think their kitchen was just two feet from my head.  I was starting to get a little nauseated.  I probably have bacon spatter on my canvas.  I got up, got a cuppa tea, and began knitting again.  Here's what I had done a couple hours before turn in.  I actually got the heel nearly complete, too, but sadly, the contest was not mine to win.  Due to my time spent in the meeting and presenting for Journeyman rank, I lost a lot of hours of knitting time.  Another competitor spent all night knitting and got BOTH socks done.  I came in third with another knitter getting up to the toe of the sock...just a few inches longer than mine.  In the end, I discovered that I put the heel on the wrong side of the sock, and it may be too small to fit me anyway.  I'm going to have to frog it all out and start again, but it was a fun experiment.

At about noon, I started packing up and was completely done by 3 pm--car packed, ready to hit the road.  Their Excellencies of Aquaterra had gone in to pack up the Baronial pavilion on the eric, and my Shittimwoode neighbors (not the Bacon-neighbors) were almost done with their camp and were going to assist at the eric, and I was headed that direction as well.  However, on my way, I saw that Tessa had a spare tire on her car.  Her right front tire was bald and pitted and had a bulge on one side...oh, it was a bad-lookin' tire...and her left front tire looked almost as bad.  I offered to follow her into town to make sure the other tire didn't blow out on the way.  We made it into town without incident, and while they were fixing the tires, we did a little Geocaching together!  The first was called Muggle Central--right on a busy street at a landmark feature--and the second was behind some newly-built barbed wire fencing.  We gave that one a miss.  We followed up with a couple more in Yakima and had dinner there at Bob's, then met up with a very tired Lianor and we caravaned home.  I arrived home at about 9:30 and Ben was still awake enough to need a big hug.

Back to School!

I picked up the kids after a half-day of school yesterday and took them out to lunch.  They posed sweetly while I took a couple of pictures.  Cammie got a very funny man for her teacher this year.  Emma's favorite teacher last year married his brother...must be a great family!  Ben's 3rd grade teacher is the same one that Cammie had two years ago, and he decided already that he likes her.  Hopefully the feeling is mutual and that we are beginning the year off right.

Last weekend, to celebrate Labor Day, Cammie and I went medieval camping together again.  Kelly thought that he might have to work, Emma didn't want to go, and Ben has such complicated medical needs that taking him camping for a long weekend is almost unthinkable.  In a lucky twist of fate, Grandma Pauline called and asked if Ben wanted to come stay with her for a few days along with his cousin, Miss A.  It was quickly agreed that this would be a great idea, and I gave Cammie the option to come with me or stay with Grandma.  She quickly volunteered to come with me, just like when we went to July Coronation, this time camping near Avelyn & Michael and their kids, as well as another couple, Liz and David and their two little ones.  They had called ahead and made a land reservation.  Due to the small children in our group, we requested a quiet area to camp.  Really, we just wanted to be camped in a place NOT next to a loud, obnoxious, vulgar partying crew.  There are a couple of them...singing rude lyrics that young children will repeat in the daylight, usually at the most inconvenient times...like in church or school.

We arrived on site and found our land reservation was in section D, just past the equestrian fields, on the far side of camp.  Down the hill.  As far away from the center of town as you could possibly get.  Had we known that this was going to be such a hardship, I would have packed up all the gear they had already unstowed and driven up the hill and found an empty space.  Next time we'll have to remember to ask for a "quieter space within easy walking distance of the erics"...that is, the center of "town".  Avelyn's feet are in really rough shape, so climbing up and down that hill a few times a day nearly did her in.  My calf was cramping, and my feet were really sore...even now my right foot feels like I have a pinched nerve.  I might have to go see my foot doctor pretty soon.

We set up our small 12' diameter yurt...I realized that the pitch of the roof is too steep, so I need to adjust the tension cable to make it looser--longer.  I also need to make the roof cover a little bigger; the fabric should hang about 6" below the ropes around the edges.  Right now if the wind blows just right, it unhooks and gives passers-by a peek-a-boo of activities within.  The other changes I need to make is making a bigger smoke hole cover and a door.  I'm thinking about making a wood frame and stretching the canvas across it.  Maybe I can paint it in a traditional Mongolian or Turkish manner to look like a door.

I picked up some fuzzy, flat hangers at Target for hanging my costumes up in the yurt.  Not only does it have a bar across the bottom for hanging socks and towels, but the fuzziness grips the dresses so they don't slide off.  The great part of the lattice walls is an unlimited amount of hanging space inside.  Then I hung 12 yards of polar fleece around the inside to keep it a bit warmer.

I spent a bit of the weekend assisting with the Equestrian championship as grounds crew for competitors--keeping score of the events and resetting the equipment--talking with friends, and climbing up and down the hills.  I missed the Exchequer meeting that I should have attended, the Costumer's guild meeting I wanted to attend, and most of merchant's row.  Cammie spent a bunch of the weekend playing with the other kids and climbing up and down the hills to walk a merchant's dog.  She made a deal with this merchant that if she walked the dog three times a day, she would earn a hat from her booth...and this is what she received!  A real fox-fur trimmed hat in a Mongolian style.  She's so pleased with herself and the hat that she wore it on the first day of school!  I'm betting she's going to wear it most of the winter, too.

On Sunday, I went up to the top of the world to get my car to begin packing up, and took this series of photos of the campsites.  What you can't quite see is that at the far end of the field, there's a steep drop off that goes down to where we were camped.  The Olympic Mountains in the background were a lovely, romantic touch.  The first picture has almost no "mundane" objects, other than a few slightly modern-looking tents.

The center part of town where the armored combat tournament were held.  The final rounds were just about to start while I was up here.  I was disappointed to miss it, but very happy to hear the results were for four-time Prince Ulf and his wife, Caiomhe ("Kee-vah").  Ulf was known, for a while, as "Ulf Princess-maker"; each of his four reigns he elevated a different lady to Princess, the last of which was his wife.  When he reigned with Princess Bernadette, they decided to give me a rather amazing award--one I treasure above all others--the Red Flame of Tir Righ.  It reads, in part, that I was chosen because I "inspire and further the image of Medievalism within our Principality."  Bernadette announced to everyone in court that it was not only for dressing the part at all times, but for all that I do with the University of Ithra.  It's only given out twice a year, and I was the 4th one to ever get one, so it was quite an honor.  

The other end of the field...a few cars in this one as people were packing up, but still lots of medieval pavilions.  I got to see a few people I hadn't seen in years, including Patricia & Hagar who moved to Alaska about 10 years ago.  

I was sitting in the shade just before the tournament finals when I overheard some silliness behind me.  Duchess Dagmaer was interviewing some of the Who's Who of An Tir and asking some really interesting questions.  "If you had the choice, in the Middle Ages, would you rather contract syphilis or dysentery, and why?"  It was being video taped and will air at 12th Night in January...it'll be interesting to see what they do with this.  

We went to court and spent a long time listening to great speeches, watching people kneel before their Majesties and receive awards, listen to the stories of valiant acts and heroics, witnessed elevations of Knights and Laurels, and enjoyed sitting with my back to the sun.  In the meantime, I snuggled with young Mr. E who behaved himself very well for such a long time while his mom, Avelyn, took pictures (and for a little while, a nap!) and dad, Michael, stood behind the Royals as Herald.

At the end of Sunday, I decided that I couldn't possibly sleep in that painfully firm cot one more night, so I opted to pack up a few things and go spend the night at my in-laws' house where Kelly had taken the other two kids.  I could catch a shower and get a snuggle with my sweetie.  I called ahead to make sure they knew I was coming, but didn't get the entire camp packed up, so I knew I'd be back in the morning for breakfast and to pack up the rest of the gear.  Unfortunately, I got there at 10:30 and the whole family had already gone to bed.  I took a long, hot shower, washed the stink and most of the dirt off, got into clean jammies and slept really well.  I got up in the morning before everyone else and got ready to head back.  Ben crawled out of bed shortly after I did, so I gave him a snuggle, Kelly rolled over and said about five words, and Cammie climbed out of bed, put on her hat, and we headed out.  I didn't see anyone else in the house...sleepyheads.

We arrived back at the site to finish breaking down the yurt, pack up the car, have breakfast, and say our goodbyes.  I helped Avelyn & Michael pack down their yurt & kitchen, since we shared some of the space and they brought the majority of the kitchen materials, and Cammie entertained the kids a bit.  We drove home, waiting three ferries to get home, just as we did to get there.

Now we're back to the ol' grind and trying to figure out the best schedule for karate, school, doctors, and all the other stuff we need to do.  It's a juggling act just to get the basics done some days.  But I'm getting a little bit of knitting done while I wait.  This is yarn that Heide gave me when I was visiting her from a project that hopped over to the frog pond and I'm busy transforming it back into socks.  I love this self-patterning stuff.  The grey colors are actually quite a soothing, almost bluish, color.  

Grandma apparently took Ben to a garage sale where he found this book on a table and became enamored with its contents of our National monuments and parks.  The really amazingly funny thing is--we already have a copy of this book.  Kelly bought it when he was about Ben's age!  He pored over it and dreamed about going to all the great monuments of our nation.  Great minds think alike.  Looks like we might be making a few road trips in coming years.  Wish we had an RV or a trailer to take across country.  We'd just need a place to park it when we're not using it.

Two weeks later...

I can't believe that it's been 14 days since I posted anything.  I don't usually go this long without sharing my stuff, so I guess I better get busy!

I finished the tunic for Tyrssen.  It looks pink, but it's really salmon colored.  I had originally made it with straight sleeves, then remembered what a pain in the butt it is to have big sleeves, so I tapered them down.  Hopefully, they're still large enough to roll up over his forearms for working/cleaning/cooking.  I made it with a slightly simpler design--no armpit gussets--but used long gores on the sides that essentially incorporated the gussets.  Fewer seams, less fuss.  I sent it to his office so he'd get it sooner and he was so excited, he put it on as soon as he got it...at work...including the cap I made.  He said he got a lot of funny looks, but he's very excited and wants to order more fabric and have me make more tunics for him.

See?  Not pink like the washcloth.  Aunt Melinda suggested it might be "antique red."  She's a funny lady!  This is the coif I also made for him to cover up his "bed head" after camping several days in the hot fields of Pennsylvania.



I made a bunch of beads for gifts for Their Majesties of the Kingdom of Northshield (black, white and yellow) and Their Majesties of the Middle Kingdom (red, green and white).  This is part of the Lampworker's Guild for An Tir (for which I somewhat surprisingly was joined--Sophia just signed me up and I didn't object).  There are somewhere around 18 Kingdoms, and the rest of the members made beads for the others--we divided the work up amongst us.  Note how these beads do not have the problem with the colors getting all burnt and smokey?  Yep...I got a new hot head for the torch and things dramatically improved.  I'm very happy with this and want to try to make some more designs for myself and to make as largesse for the Kingdom and the Barony.  Other than the torch head, the rest of the materials are pretty inexpensive.  I'll need to order some more white for the base colors.  I go through a lot of that.

I put the beads onto dental floss and folded them into a square of muslin with two of my SCA business cards (it has my SCA name, titles, and contact information...Vista Print will give you 250 cards for free...just pay shipping.  Sweet deal!).  Last week Friday, Cammie and I hopped into the car with the yurt and our clothes and some bedding and headed off to July Coronation!

This is the yurt when it's all broken down (canvas not included).  To give you size perspectives, the door frame there is 5' long and 3' wide.  The circle is the "smoke hole", called the tono; the larger bundle directly under it is a giant baby gate (the khana) that stretches into a 12' diameter circle; the smaller bundle of wood are rafters (uni) that connect from the walls to the tono.  It fits very comfortably inside my car.  Some people actually have a door frame that disassembles for even easier transport!  The ropes hold the frame to the walls and the tension cable wraps around the top, keeping it from splatting outwards.  It's an amazing feat of engineering.  It sleeps two people quite comfortably.  We had two cots and a 3' x 6' table (granted, I could have used a table half the size) that we used for the Coleman stove.  Given the smoke hole in the top, it was a well-ventilated area that I felt safe using the stove in.  We really only used it to cook dinner and then heat water for tea and washing.  We had another small table (TV tray size) that held a 5 gallon jug of ice water for drinking.  We could have used some kind of floor covering, like a tarp and some rugs, but otherwise it was very cozy.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of it set up.  I'll have to do that this week...

The kids have been keeping themselves occupied and enjoying the summer weather.  They couldn't decide between playing in the pool or on the swings...so why not both?  They moved it, filled it, and played for hours.  Clever little monkeys!

Today was spent largely at the quilt show for my guild.  There are a number of amazing quilts hanging up there, including MINE!  My job there today was to volunteer for their charity quilts area.  I didn't realize that I was the second-in-command for the charity quilts that go to Children's Hospital (somehow an email went astray) and many things went wrong.  Not disastrously wrong, mind you, but I used fabric from the wrong donation pile (I didn't know they were segregated), and I signed in for my volunteer hours in the wrong spot.  Next year we'll have it down to a science and we'll trade off hours so it'll work more smoothly.



After I got back from volunteering there, I started making pants for SCA wear as part of my Olympic Costuming competition.  One of the things I discovered was that I really only had one pair of Medieval underwear (bloomers, if you will) and I needed to make more.  The image above is of one leg...the skinny part on the left is the ankle, and the wide part on the right is the waist.  The triangle makes part of the crotch gusset.  It's a great pattern because of its simplicity and it uses every scrap of fabric.  I bought this rather inexpensive cotton fabric and sewed up two pairs for myself.  I also made a pair too big, so I'll finish those up for Kelly.  I used some of the leftovers to make a pair for Cammie, but they were too small for her, so they'll be for Ben, and I still have a scrap left over to make another pair for Cammie.  I'll have to figure out something else for Emma....

Olympic Costuming is a spin-off of the Olympic Knitting competition that occurs during the winter Olympics, so I'm starting my own Olympic Costuming for the summer Olympics.  During the next 2 1/2 weeks, I am going to see how many garments I can make from my seemingly endless stash of fabrics.  I need to make new tunics for the kids, for Kelly, and a couple of key garments for myself.



One of the things I've been wanting to make for myself is some kind of warm night garment.  Maybe something like a Medieval bathrobe, night tunic, and warm leggings...with feet.  I'd like to be able to get up out of bed, slip my feet into boots and go to the privvy without freezing all the way there and back.  There are also several occasions when I was so cold I couldn't sleep.  These things must be remedied.  Of course, the only night clothes I can find in images are simple long tunics, and they're usually of sick people, so they're covered up with blankets.

Here's one that looks like it has a quilt on it...although it could be woven.  She's wearing a full dress and head scarves.  That would probably be uncomfortable to sleep in.  Note the dog licking its balls.  And who said that Medieval art wasn't sophisticated?

Memorial Days and Making Memories

It's been a week since I posted anything...hard to believe that I have so little to say!  That's not true...I have a lot to say, at least that's what my family would say.

Yeah, yeah...whatever.

I finished a few things recently.  In no particular order...but mostly reverse order...

Avelyn came over Friday to fix the roof on her yurt.  When we originally cut the fabric, we were going by the directions that were given to us by a yurt maker, but some of the numbers were off.  While I don't hold grudges for giving us erroneous information, I am disappointed that we had such a steep learning curve.  There were several times when we said, "wait a sec...that doesn't sound right."  After doing the math, we discovered where things had gone a little sideways and had to make adjustments.  The yurt roof cover was one of those things.  First the rafters were about 8" too long, then we cut them down on site and drilled new holes with a battery-powered drill at September Crown.  Then we put the cover on which was about 18" too short, allowing passers-by to peek in over the edges and see everything going on inside...like people sleeping or changing clothes.  How in the world we managed that, I have no idea.  So, long story short, we had to cut 18" wide curves to add to the edge of the yurt cover.  Hopefully we got it right...  First we sewed the curves end-to-end, and flat-felled the seams.  Then we sewed the length to the cover and began to flat-fell the seams, only to have the sewing machine give out.  The strap that runs the wheel is frayed and needs to be replaced.  The bobbin winder wasn't working, either, so I was hand-winding all the bobbins.  Let me tell you what a fun task that is....

When it's all done and the numbers are set, we're going to write a How to Make a Yurt book using hard numbers and step-by-step directions.  We won't make a million on it, but we might be able to get people to make a good, sturdy weekend home without breaking the bank or suffering the grey hairs that we did.

I haven't mentioned to Kelly that I'd like to try to make another bigger yurt...but I'd have to sell the square Regency tent to fund it, I think.  The other option is to make modifications to make ours 18' across by making longer rafters and adding a length to the khana.  I'm hoping that this will not require making a new tono.  However, it will require a new roof cover and another panel to go the rest of the way around the outside.  Experimentation may be afoot this summer....

I finally finished the weaving project that has been on the loom for the last few weeks that will probably go up for sale at July Coronation.  I didn't have a particular plan for this one, so I'm happy to let this one go.  I wanted to repeat the Baronial and Kingdom colors but on a narrower band, so I omitted a few cards on the ends.  It ended up being about 2 cm wide, and just over 4 yards long.  On Thursday, while Miss Bekah was visiting, I warped up another weave with yellow, red and white to make a weave in Ithra colors.

A quilt job for Judy that has been delivered back to its owner.  This was a fun little project and I did my favorite swirly "Dr. Seuss Feather" stitching on it.  She gave me the thread to work with, a blue King Tut spool.  It worked pretty well, but it's much heavier than I'm used to.  The yellow pieces up in the corner was the test area to get the tension set correctly.  I removed it after taking this picture.  I just couldn't find my seam ripper at the moment.

The kids had a track meet a week ago.  The younger grades, 1-3, had theirs at the school being host to three other schools for 50- and 75-yard dash, relays, and potato sack races.  Ben participated in five different races, receiving five purple "participant" ribbons.  Winning isn't everything...but at least the ribbons were purple...his favorite color.  OK, second favorite.  He had a pretty good day and was a good sport about not placing in any of the races.  He was treated with a grape shave ice afterwards.  It was a purple themed day.

The 8th grade students helped as sitters for the younger ones between races so that teachers could focus on organizing their brood for the various heats.  Mostly I think the 8th graders ate candy and snacks from the sale table.  Ben stopped to cuddle with his big sister after every race, which was good--I knew where to find him.  I was asked to keep an eye on him and help make sure he made it to his events.  I actually ended up losing him for a while when I turned my back for two minutes to talk to another parent, which resulted in 10 minutes of searching before I found him rolling down the small hill from the basketball court to the field.

Memorial Day weekend has arrived and our long weekend is sliding by too quickly.  We are mid-way through and have yet to do anything of significance.  Other than Spring cleaning my bedroom--tossing out a ton of paperwork, changing sheets, and vacuuming under and behind furniture.  There is still a bit more to do, like packing away the extra winter quilts and bagging up the donation stuff behind the door, but it looks a LOT better.

My sewing room needs the same kind of treatment and I've been pecking away at the bins of scraps, cutting them into squares of 2" up to 6" (in 1/2" increments) and bagging them up for scrap quilts.  The baggie of 2" squares is in my car along with a needle, thread and scissors and I have been piecing them while I'm waiting to pick up kids, sitting at the coffee shop before a meeting with a client, or at functions that are not for me (like the cast party for the play).

The other thing I've been working on for the past couple of weeks is scanning old photos, like this one from 2002, into the computer for a photo album for Emma.  I finished one on Shutterfly and will be giving it to her as her graduation gift, but I have many more photos than would fit into one album, and have thousands of photos from the pre-digital age that I am trying to put into a birth-to-five book.  There may be some overlap and I know I'll have to do at least one more album for high school years, which can also include all the grade school photos that won't fit into these first two albums.  I will have to do albums for Cammie and Ben in future years, also.